Guest Post with Giveaway ~ Spouse On Haunted Hill by EJ Cooperman

Don’t get me wrong—I enjoy writing about ghosts because you can make up any rules you want. But writing characters whose circumstances are not normal requires a lot of memory, and I am using all of mine at the moment.

In the Haunted Guesthouse mystery series, there are at least four “regular” ghosts who appear in every book (after they’re introduced). In the latest, SPOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL, the original two ghosts, Paul Harrison and Maxie Malone, are joined by the main character’s dad, Jack Kirby, and Maxie’s boyfriend Everett, a military veteran who likes to patrol the gas station where he died.

The thing is, Paul is bound to Alison Kirby’s house and grounds; he can’t leave. He’s trying to find a way to reach the next level of existence despite his not knowing what that is. Maxie is perfectly content to stay on this level because she has a boyfriend, but she can travel outside the house and go wherever she wants as long as there’s a flight out of Newark International Airport. Jack is happy to stay with his still-living wife Loretta and visit his daughter Alison and his granddaughter Melissa. Everett is still adjusting to the whole ghost thing but enjoys being with Maxie and will follow her almost anywhere as long as he gets to patrol the gas station every once in a while.

See what I mean? The rules can become exhausting.

It’s true in any series of novels. I write four of them now, and keeping it all straight is practically impossible. But readers will catch inconsistencies and email me, so I keep a “bible” for each series except the Guesthouse books. After eight of those, I’d better remember who every body is. If not, that’s why there are really good editors.

The best emails come from dedicated fans who like to catch times when I slip up and it gets past the editors, copy editors, proofreaders and the author (who gets to check up a few times along the year-long process of publication). It happens.

My favorite was from a reader who noticed in one book that the characters said they’d meet on Thursday and ended up meeting on Friday. That reader emailed me almost triumphantly showing the error. I sent back a message saying they had intended to meet on Thursday, but something came up.

Keeping it all straight is probably one of the harder aspects of writing a series. Does Alison have a cousin named Roberto? I couldn’t remember. What was Maxie’s mom’s job before she retired? Luckily I knew which book that was mentioned in, but not the page number. Where did Alison’s boyfriend Josh go to college? Frankly, your guess is as good as mine. Probably better.

But there’s a freedom to writing a series that is different than standalone novels, in that the writer gets to tell a long story that evolves and grows, and characters that might end up going in directions the author didn’t originally envision. It’s a way to see the characters and situations differently with each book, while keeping the basic continuity going. And the reader can start with any book in the series because the backstory will always be explained.

So yeah, writing ghosts can be difficult. Writing regular people is no picnic. But the rewards, even if they come in the guise of emails from people who know you meant Thursday when you said Friday, are worth it all.

Alison’s shady ex needs to use her haunted guesthouse as a hideout in the latest from the national bestselling author of Ghost in the Wind.

Where Alison Kerby’s ex-husband goes, trouble follows. This time, unfortunately, he’s brought that trouble right to her doorstep. On the run from a business deal gone bad, Steven, aka “the Swine,” owes some scary people a staggering sum of money. No need to panic, though. He has a plan: Sell Alison’s Jersey Shore guesthouse to pay them off.

Before Alison has a chance to read Steven the riot act, he disappears—after a mysterious man trailing him ends up full of bullet holes. Now the police are next to darken her doorway. For all his faults, Steven is still the father of Alison’s daughter, so with the help of ghosts Maxie and Paul, Alison sets out to find her ex and clear him of the murder. But if the bad guys get to him first, he may not have a ghost of a chance…

Winner will have 48 hours from the time of notification to confirm their win or another winner will be chosen.

E.J. Cooperman is a mysterious figure, or has a mysterious figure, or writes figuratively in mysteries. In any event, a New Jersey native, E.J. has written for such publications as The New York Times, Entertainment Weekly, American Baby and USA Weekend. Night of the Living Deed is the first E.J. Cooperman novel in the Haunted Guesthouse Mystery series.

E.J., having worked as a newspaper reporter, teacher, magazine editor, and screenwriter, writes stories that combine humor and mystery with just the right amount of spooky supernatural happenings and a large does of Jersey attitude.

Sound like we're being evasive? Well the fact is that E.J. Cooperman is the pseudonym of a well-known mystery novelist, now embarking on a new type of story that includes some elements of the supernatural as well as a fair number of laughs. And the Cooperman novels will have a different attitude, a different setting and completely different characters than anything that has come before, so E.J. is really a new author.

At 72, I have been a widow for 8 years, and I dream of him almost every night. Ever since I was a little girl, I believed in ghosts, and still do to this day. If wishes came true, I would wish for him to visit me in the form of a ghost, but till then, I am happy to have him in my dreams.